VE Day sparks memories for wartime RAF flight navigator
VE Day commemorations brought back poignant memories for 96-yearold former RAF navigator Jack Dark. Horsham born and bred, he joined the RAF aged 18 in March 1942 and trained in South Africa, where he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and later a Flight Lieutenant. He joined RAF Bomber Command Main Force in 1943 as a navigator/bomb aimer based at Metheringam Airfield (106 Squadron), and then Pathfinder Force at Conningsby (83 Squadron) as Radar Navigator Leader.
“When I started training operations the loss of two complete crews occurred one evening in 1943 when the two planes collided during a night flying exercise,” said Jack.
More than 100 Lancasters and their crews were lost on raids that Jack flew. “It was a constant reminder of how vulnerable we were.”
With an average of seven hours per mission, Jack flew 28 combat operations to targets including Hamburg, two German battle cruisers in Gydinia/Gdańsk, Munich, Uft Dam, Dortmund, Emms, Oslo Fjord and Dresden. His first raid was to Drammen Fjord Oslo to drop mines, and his last as ‘primary blind marker’ on the Norwegian coast.
Pathfinder crews were tasked with flying out first before the main force, locating and marking the targets. Main force planes would then use these markers to locate their own bomb runs. Jack’s last raid was to a Norwegian fjord, he marked a German battle cruiser at anchor. Similarly, he marked targets in Dresden, prior to the main raid.
Jack was born in Sedgwick, the eldest of six children. He went to Nuthurst Primary and then Oxford Road School before leaving at 14 and joining Horsham Rural District Council in 1939 as a junior clerk.
Jack had 45 years of local government service and by retirement was an assistant financial planning officer. He was clerk to Nuthurst (1961-1990) and Lower Beeding (1974-1990) Parish Councils.
He played cricket for NALGO, the Leatherhunters, and Nuthurst Cricket Club 1958 to 1983 at the Mannings Heath ground, and football as captain of Horsham YMCA Second XI from the 1950s to early 1960s.
He has one son, Chris, a retired secondary school head teacher. Jack is proud of his three granddaughters, Robyn, Martha and Lauren. Jack’s wife Pat, who is currently being cared for in Horsham Hospital, worked at the Horsham Telephone Exchange.